Soroity

[gidgeystartedit]

I wanna get a soroity so bad (I think that's how you spell it :P, soroity?). I plan to get it either after my b-day (Dec. 3rd) or Christmas (Dec. 2-wait you should know this one.).
I think I read that ten gallons is enough. Is that true? I had an idea that I'd get light blue rocks and have it as a slant and the "Hill" gets higher as it goes up. I plan to have alot of plants and a cave... and at the top of the hill I want three stalks of bamboo. Probably throw in a moss ball also :). Here is a (poor) drawing of what I want to do.
Would 4 or 5 bettas be good? (FEMALES!)
If so, 4 or 5?
I want to know more about this before I dive in :).

[Myates]

Sororities are fun :)

10 gallons would be the smallest size tank you will want to use- 4-5 females is the correct amount.

Bamboos aren't actually meant to be in fish tanks- you have to be careful with them so no leaves get into the water. They sell them as aquatic plants for fish tanks, but to me they just aren't worth the risk.

[gidgeystartedit]

Oh alright :). I didn't know that about bamboo, I just knew that they can't be all the way in.. Thanks.
Maybe I'll search the petstore for some live plants :)
This will have to be an way-or-soon after Christmas thing. That's my mom's excuse-"Wait till after Christmas" or "We'll discuss it after Christmas."
I figured I'd start researching now, and this site is the best/pretty much only place to be :).

[gidgeystartedit]

Yes, I mostly had tropical fish (i.e. guppies, mollies, platies.)
This is all new! (Sorry for the double post.)

[1fish2fish]

IMO you want at least 5 girls. It has been my experience that 4 girls tend to have more aggression issues. Personally I think 7 is a good number in a 10 gallon, however that is over stocking. With a sorority you definitely what to have the tank cycled before adding the fish and you should also do two weekly water changes IMO. I used to do one 50% and one 10-25% each week.

LOTS and LOTS of plants. I can't stress this enough. You shouldn't be able to see the back wall of the tank it has so many plants. Caves aren't nearly as important as plants. You want them tall enough to break up the line of sight at the top of the tank since that is where bettas spend a great deal of their time.

Here's a picture of one of my old 10 gallon sororities. To be perfectly honest, after having sororities in a 10 then a 20 and then a 29 I think 20 gallons (long) is a much better size for a small sorority than ten, but it is doable in a 10.


Also remember... there is a good likelihood that it may not work out with one or all of the fish. And even if they seem ok at first doesn't mean they won't turn on each other down the line. So always be sure that you have enough tanks, heaters, etc to house each fish separately in case they decide to murder each other (believe me, it happens >.<).


I'm not trying to dissuade you, I just want you to keep in mind that many sororities don't work out so you have to have a back up plan.

[gidgeystartedit]

Thanks :) I get it, I've read many forums where they don't work out. Now, I've also read where they put the bettas in "time out" in a separate tank or a breeder. I've got extra tanks and I sure can get one fast if needed. Is the "time out" method good? Does it work? I LOVEEE the tank set up. I plan to have quite a bit of fake plants of all different sizes. Maybe a few live ones too. I don't want my fake plants floating, but I love what you did with the floating live plant. I was only planning on one cave, and then pack it with plants. Will this work? I just can't express how much I want this but I have to waiiiiit. I have another question for whoever, do you get all the females from one store at one time? I want to get mine from 2 different stores, will this work?
Thanks for helping, I haven't done this before, I'm used to one betta at a time :).

[1fish2fish]

I don't know about time out. I have pulled females and floated them in cups in the tank before but generally it hasn't made much of a difference in my experience.

If you're getting unrelated females it doesn't matter where you get them from, however your going to want to QT all of them, especially if they're coming from a pet store. So your going to need to have at least a gallon container per fish.

A good rule of thumb would be to QT them for a month.. so you could theoretically get them and begin QTing them while the tank cycles. So once the tank is cycled they'd be ready to be introduced.

I wouldn't use just one cave. You want several. Personally I prefer driftwood and plants over normal caves.